LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

To the Editors:

I am writing to comment on the article, “Effect of a Multidisciplinary Intervention on Communication and Collaboration Among Physicians and Nurses” (January 2005: 71–76). In this prospective study, a multidisciplinary team including a nurse practitioner and a hospitalist with a team of residents and interns was created and compared with a unit of similar design without a multidisciplinary team. In addition to the creation of the team in the intervention unit, daily multidisciplinary rounds were conducted with the goal of increasing collaboration and improving communication between all members of the healthcare team. I applaud the journal’s recognition of the importance of this role and the coverage of the contributions of nurse practitioners in acute care areas.

I am concerned, however, about the way that the role of the nurse practitioner (NP) was represented in the context of this article. The NP’s responsibilities delineated within the article included...